Do you want a calm exercise for kids that is great for stretching and strengthening? This lengthening snail crawls exercise goes with my snail crawls dice printable.
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SNAIL CRAWLS EXERCISE FOR KIDS DEMONSTRATED BY A 2½ YEAR OLD – YOUTUBE VIDEO
My 2½-year-old niece, Zoey, demonstrates the snail crawls exercise in this cute video! She loves the snails she finds outside. Her noises at the end are what noise she thinks a snail would make! So adorable. ?
Watch the Snail Crawls Exercise for Kids Demonstrated by a 2½ Year Old YouTube video!
SNAIL CRAWLS EXERCISE FOR KIDS
The snail crawls exercise for kids is focused on stretching, core strength, strength, coordination, control, and physical fitness.
When performing the snail crawls exercise with kids, it’s important to keep these in mind:
- Help kids place their hands in front on the floor when kneeling. You can guide their hands where they will go to help with their understanding of where the arms will go.
- Add pulling knees in. After kids place their hands in front, reaching, then have them draw their knees toward their hands by using their abdominal muscles and sliding the top of their legs across the floor. This can be a much smaller movement at first. As they get the hang of drawing their knees forward, the movement can be made bigger.
- Have kids kneel and place their hands in front, curling in a ball by bringing their forehead to the floor or toward their knees. This can be the exercise on its own for a more basic snail crawls exercise. For the full exercise, 1 and 2 will be performed followed by this. That is one repetition. It will go: reach (arms and hands), draw (knees), and curl (this step).
- Focus on fun and controlled range of motion. This exercise is meant to be fun and to have as large a range of motion as possible while maintaining control.
- Remind kids about using good posture and engaging abdominals. Encourage kids to make their body long on the reaching part, draw their belly button into their spine, and keep good posture throughout the exercise. It can be tough to maintain good posture as they get tired, but good posture increases the effectiveness immensely. It will also help prevent injury.
- Encourage kids to keep trying. As long as they are trying and moving, encourage them! This will help them gain confidence. Then you can begin to refine the movement as confidence increases.
PROGRESSIONS OF THE SNAIL CRAWLS EXERCISE FOR KIDS
When it’s apparent that your child is ready to progress to a more difficult version of the snail crawls exercise, here are some progressions to try while performing the exercise:
- Bring hands closer together or all the way together.
- Reach arms farther from body and pull body in farther.
- Increase quickness.
- Increase repetitions. For older kids and adults, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division can be done with the dice to increase repetitions, focus on educational skills, and make the game more interesting.
HOW TO DO THE SNAIL CRAWLS DICE FITNESS GAME
First download the FREE Snail Crawls Dice Printable below. Then print out and tape or glue together the dice printable or print out and put the dice printable inserts in the differentiated instruction cube/photo cube.
This fitness game can be done with 1 or more kids of all ages and adults. If two or more are playing this fitness game, you can alternate rolling the dice and doing the exercise individually, or you can alternate who rolls the dice and everyone playing can do the exercise each time.
My niece, Zoey, loves to alternate when doing the exercise {Auntie Chrissy (me), Grandma (my mom), and then Zoey}! She will also take out the dice and play it on her own if she’s at Grandma’s (my mom and dad’s) and I’m not there. She typically does at least one dice fitness game every time she’s at Grandma’s, which is typically 4 times per week. ?
- Figure out where you will do the dice fitness game.
- Roll the dice.
- Have the child count the number of dots on the dice that the dice has landed on.
- Snail crawl that number of times. For example, if the dice landed on 5, you will snail crawl 5 times.
- Continue this game for a specific number of rounds, length of time, or other specified amount. You can also do this dice fitness game for the specified duration, followed by one or more of my other dice fitness games that you can find below.
If I’m with Zoey, she usually likes to do multiple dice fitness games together! We typically have four fitness dice available on her shelves at all times. We use the differentiated instruction cubes/photo cubes. Often she will do all four dice fitness games on her shelves each time she sees me (often one or more times per week). I love that she has a love for fitness at such a young age. ❤
FREE SNAIL CRAWLS DICE PRINTABLE {FITNESS & COUNTING INSTANT DOWNLOAD}
You can get a free, instant download of my snail crawls dice and Differentiated Instruction Cube (photo cube) printables!
SIMPLE AND FUN FROG LEAP ACTIVITY FOR KIDS {FREE PRINTABLE}
Check out my “Simple and Fun Frog Leap Activity for Kids” post for another fun fitness for kids’ printable plus ideas of activity trays you can easily prepare with these printables. Zoey brings the frog dice out often and does it on her own or will ask for a family member to do it with her. So adorable and an awesome way to get kids loving to move from an early age!
FISH SWIMMING EXERCISE TUTORIALS AND YOUTUBE VIDOES
Check out my blog post with YouTube videos and tutorials on how to do the swimming exercises and get the One Fish, Two Fish, FREE Fish Swimming Dice Printable {Dr. Seuss, Finding Nemo, Ocean, and Pet Themes Instant Download}!
BUNNY HOPS EXERCISE TUTORIALS AND YOUTUBE VIDOES
Check out my blog post with YouTube videos and tutorials on how to do the bunny hops exercise options and to get the Bunny Hops Exercise for Kids {Free Printable}!
BUTTERFLY FLAPS EXERCISE TUTORIAL AND YOUTUBE VIDEO
Check out my blog post with a YouTube video and tutorial on how to do the butterflyflaps exercise and to get the FREE Butterfly Flaps Dice Printable {Spring, Summer, and Nature Themes Instant Download}!
DUCK WALKS EXERCISE TUTORIAL AND YOUTUBE VIDEO
Check out my blog post with a YouTube video and tutorial on how to do the duck walks exercise and to get the FREE Duck Walks Dice Printable {Fitness & Counting Instant Download}!
HORSE GALLOPS EXERCISE TUTORIAL AND YOUTUBE VIDEO
Check out my blog post with a YouTube video and tutorial on how to do the horse gallops exercise and to get the FREE Horse Gallops Dice Printable {Fitness & Counting Instant Download}!
RECYCLING CRUSHES EXERCISE TUTORIAL AND YOUTUBE VIDEO
Check out my blog post with a YouTube video and tutorial on how to do the recycling crushes exercise and to get the FREE Recycling Crushes Dice Printable {Fitness & Counting Instant Download}!
CAR RACING LAPS EXERCISE TUTORIAL AND YOUTUBE VIDEO
Check out my blog post with a YouTube video and tutorial on how to do the car racing laps exercise and to get the FREE Car Racing Laps Dice Printable {Fitness & Counting Instant Download}!
WHALE BREACHES EXERCISE TUTORIAL AND YOUTUBE VIDEO
Check out my blog post with a YouTube video and tutorial on how to do the whale breaches exercise and to get the FREE Whale Breaches Dice Printable {Fitness & Counting Instant Download}!
DICE FITNESS GAMES
Here’s a Dice Fitness Game I created for kids and adults that uses regular dice!
HAVE FUN!
Have fun doing this exercise that feels great! It’s an awesome way to get a longer, stronger body.
Have you, your child(ren), or your students tried the snail crawls exercise? What other exercises would you like to see?
Have fun!
❤
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I look forward to reading your comments, seeing your photos, and chatting with you on social media! ❤
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